Sliding beam counterbalance



March 1929. 6. c. MlLLER ET AL I 1,706,407

smnnie sum couu'fanmuucn Filed Au 51, 192'! 16 i4 mvmrons.

CLIFFORD C/l/MLES MILLER.

Patented Mar. 26, 1929.

UNITED "STATES PATENT oFFicE.

CLIFFORD CHARLES MILLER AND-JOHN 13. EAS OF LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIAf 1SAID MI LER ASSIGNQR TO SAID EAST.- v

SLiDING BEAM COUNTERBALANGE.

Application filed August 31, 1927.

In the pumping of deep wells it is necessary I to counterbalance thecolumn of liquid in the well so that the pumping machinery may berelieved of this strain, and so that the pump will operate smoother andwith less jerk on the rods, pump, and the like. Heretofore, thecounterbalances have been placed on the band wheel or have been hung tothe end of the walking beam. When working on the well it was necessaryto remove these counterweights, which required a great deal of effortand labor and meant a loss of considerable time.

An object of our invention is to provide a counterwei ht which isadjustably mounted on the wal l iing beam.

Another object is to provide a counterbalance which may readily be movedto inoperative position with a minimum amount of labor expended.

Other objects, advantages, and features of invention may appear from theaccompanying drawing, the subjoined detailed description, and theappended claims.

In the drawing" Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a walking beam with ourcounterweight mounted thereon.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the walking beam.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken on line 3, 3, Fig. 1. p

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the bottom plate of the counterbalance.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the weight plates.

Referring more particularly to the drawm The numeral -1 indicates awalking beam which is mounted and oscillated in the usual manner. Thepolish rod 2 which extends to the sucker rods in the well is secured toone end of the beam and a suitable operating link 3 is mounted on theother end and extends to the usual engine. A pair of tracks 4, 4 areformed or secured to the top of the beam 1 and a rack 5 is positionedbetween the two tracks 4. The tracks 4 and rack 5 may be integrally caston a plate which is secured to the beam, or they may be individuallyformed and secured tothe beam, or any other well-known method may beemployed in mounting these units on the beam.

Our counterbalance 6 is slidably mounted on the tracks 4, 4 and is movedalong the beam by the rack 5, as will be further described. Thecounterbalance 6 comprises a bottom Serial No. 216,584.

plate 7 which has a pair of depending ears 8, 8 extending. downwardlyalong the side of the beam which act as guides or braces for the weight.A shaft 9 is journaled in the plate 7 and a gear 10 is secured to saidshaft and meshes with the rack 5. A gear 11 is secured to the outer endof the shaft and meshes with a pinion 12 which pinion is journaled inone of the ears 8, and a handle 13 is secured to said pinion wherebythesame may be rotated.

Thus it will be seen that as the pinion 12 is rotated by the handle 13,which rotates the gear 11, shaft 9 and gear 10, it moves theweightbackwards and forwards along the track 4 and over the rack 5. Toprovide the required Wei ht a plurality of plates 14 are piled'on theottom plate 7 and are held in position by a bolt 15 which rises from thebottom plate and extends through the weight plates. Also, thejuxtapositioned plates are provided with lugs 16 and-sockets 17, thuspreventing the plates from turning out of their set positions. v

When the counterweight has been moved along the beam to the requiredposition it is locked in place by hook bolts 18, 18 which extend throughthe bottom plate 7 and under the bottom of the beam. These bolts aretightened by any suitable means, such as quick-acting lock nuts, or thelike. It will be evident from the. foregoing description that ourcounterbalance can be moved along the beam to the point where the liquidcolumn is exactly balanced and there secured in position. When it isdesired to work on the well the hook bolts 18 are quickly released andthe counterbalance is moved over the center of the beam where it remainsuntil the working on the well has been completed. It is never necessaryto remove the weight from the beam and one man can easily adjust theweight back and forth as desired.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. In a walking beam, a track on said beam, a rack on the beam, acounterbalance comprising abottom plate, a plurality of set platesdetachably secured to the bottom plate, a shaft journaled in said bottomplate, a gear on the shaft meshing with the rack, a second gear on theshaft, a pinion meshing with the last named gear, a handle on thepinion, and hook bolts extending through said bottom plate and under thebeam.

5 a shaft journaled in said bottom plate, a gear tures.

2. InaWalking beam,at-rack on said beam, shaft whereby the shaft isrotatable, and a rack on the beam, a counterbalance co1nhook boltsextending through said bottom prising a bottom plate, a plurality of setplate and under the beam. 10 plates detachably secured to the bottomplate, In testimony whereof, We afiix our signaon the shaft meshing withthe rack man- CLIFFORD. 'CHARLES MILLER. ually operatable meansconnected to said JOHN B. EAST.

